“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20).

There was great sorrow when the body of Jesus was carried from the cross to the tomb.  The signal seemed to say, “Jesus Christ defeated.”  But three days later the fog lifted and it was announced, Jesus Christ defeated the enemy!  Through Christ we have complete victory over our enemies of sin, death, and Satan, and we have new life, a glorious hope, and the certainty of our own resurrection one day. 

But the subject of resurrection in God’s Word is one that needs to be “rightly divided.” (2 Timothy 2:15), according to prophesied order.

“But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (I Cor. 15:23).

In I Corinthians 15 Paul speaks of multiple resurrections; 1) applying to both the prophetic beleivers and, 2) a resurrection “according to the revelation of the mystery” that Paul presented in order to establish “the body of Christ.”

Note that the made-up term ‘prophetic beleivers’ is useful as it includes all the faithful believers who sprang from the prophesied times. This would include all those who sprang from God’s promise to Adam and them also who sprang from Abraham’s call with the Covenant of Promise. This then includes the prophesied time of Jesus of Nazareth’s ministry on earth, the prophesied time of the early Acts period, the prophesied time of the Tribulation period.

Genesis 3:15 is sometimes called the first Messianic prophecy that can be called the ‘first gospel,’ and it refers to Eve’s Seed, speaking prophetically of Jesus the Messiah.  Here God is speaking to the Serpent after Adam’s fall to his lies and deception.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (KJV)

This ‘first gospel’ had been demonstrated by God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve after their rebellion and fall to Sin. God clothed them with the skins of an innocently slain animal whose blood no doubt had been shed. Adam and his children no doubt understood God’s way of covering Sin as demonstrated by Able’s sacrifice of an innocent animal, shedding its blood (cf., Gen. 4:2-5).

These prophetic beleivers are not at all to be confused with the unique grace beleivers of “the mystery,” to whom Paul preached the never prophesied “gospel of the grace of God” and thereby established “the church, the body of Christ” that consist mainly of Gentiles.

In verses 1Corinthians 15:23-28, Paul outlines the prophetic order of the resurrections, and he begins with Christ’s resurrection.

As Paul spoke of the gospel of salvation in 1Corinthian15, making it clear that Christ’s resurrection was prophesied: “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4 cf. Psa. 16:10). In verses 20 and 23, Paul refers to Christ’s own resurrection as being the “firstfruits,” meaning that Christ’s resurrection is a foretaste of what is to come. The veracity, and power of the Christians gospel stand upon the bodily resurrection of Christ, guaranteeing the full great harvest of bodily resurrections yet to come for both the prophetic and kingdom saints and, also of the members of “the church, the Body of Christ.”

Notice in I Cor. 15:23 how Paul says “they [not “we”] that are Christ’s at His Coming”, speaking of the resurrection of all the prophetic believers at Christ’s second coming to earth.  These saints will be raised and ushered into the earthly, millennial reign of Christ.  This is the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:5-6), which includes all the saved from the prophetic program, or in other words, all the saved from the past, prior to today’s “dispensation of the grace of God,” along with all the future martyred Tribulation saints.  As Revelation 20:6 states,

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him (on earth) a thousand years.”

Following the thousand-year Kingdom, when Christ “must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet” (I Cor. 15:25), comes the “second resurrection,” or “resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). This consisting of all the unsaved of all ages. Then, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Cor. 15:26).  After the Great White Throne judgment, “death and hell” will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14) and “there shall be no more death” (Rev. 21:4). 

After Paul gives this prophetic sequence of events regarding resurrection, in verse 51 he brings up a secret coming and a secret resurrection that wasn’t ever before revealed.

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (I Cor. 15:51-52).

The “first resurrection” and this secret resurrection are two different resurrections.  The prophesied “first resurrection” will take place after Christ’s prophesied second coming.  The secret resurrection will take place at Christ’s secret coming, the Rapture (I Thes. 4:13-18).  This coming of Christ and its resurrection is part of the “revelation of the mystery (the secreted plan of God)” (Rom. 16:25), the message that had been hid in the mind of God and revealed first to the Apostle Paul (cf., Eph. 3:1-9). 

All the previous resurrections, such as Christ’s resurrection, the first resurrection, and the resurrection of damnation were all revealed in the Old Testament (Isa. 53:10; Dan. 12:2), but not the resurrection of “the Body of Christ.”

Notice how the personal pronouns change from “they” to “we” here as Paul applies this coming of Christ and resurrection to the Church, the Body of Christ: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (I Cor. 15:51).  The Rapture is the bodily resurrection day for the Body of Christ only, which is not referred to or revealed outside of Paul’s letters.  The Rapture and its secret resurrection is part of the mystery program while the second coming and its first resurrection belong to the prophetic program.

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).

By Kevin Sadler, as adapted by Arthur J Licursi